Little Christmas Things

Generic Ornaments in CINEMA 4D
By Ko Maruyama

Every year, certain holidays come around which bring up the same questions from different clients - making iconographic images that indicate the season. There are hundreds of little 3D objects that can be made quickly - in about 10 minutes, so it doesn't seem worth the trouble of archiving and logging all of those little things. But maybe it's time to start putting a dropbox of holiday goodies together. Here's one.

Why not archive these little things? Because some of them really don't take more than a couple of minutes to make, edit, texture and animate.

CREATE A SPHERE, and make it editable (use the "c" key as a shortcut).

click each image for a larger version

With the Live Selection tool, select the top point on the sphere and delete it, creating a hole in the sphere.

Select the points around the opening (U~L). For good measure, use the HUD ("V") and set the selection.

Move these points up, along the Y-axis (to taste).

Select the next loop of points around the collar. For good measure, use the HUD ("V") and set a new selection. (note: be sure your previous tag icon isn't selected, or the command will write over that first selection).

Scale these points tighter around the neck slightly.

Hold the option key down, and add a HyperNURBS parent.

In the FRONT view, create a profile of a cap with a spline tool. Hold down the option key, and add a LatheNURBS parent.

While in the same view, create the path for the wire hanger. Put a spline in a SweepNURBS object with a small radius circle (I've used 5m) to create the wire. You can use any spline you want to define the profile of the hanger. go nuts.

Then, texture it with any number of presets in CINEMA 4D, or paint your own texture in R10's incorporated BODYPAINT 3D features. There are so many different materials to use in CINEMA 4D that come standard - - Don't forget to look on the "Goodies CD" for even more materials and presets.

Download the project? That only took you 4 minutes to go through the tutorial! Okay, if you really want the model (for both R9.5 and R10), take a look over at our friends at Toolfarm.com.

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Ko Maruyama is a freelance animator in Los Angeles. In addition to working on film and broadcast animations, Ko teaches at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design - focusing on motion design. When working, writing or testing software allows, you can find him lending a hand in the After Effects board and lurking among the Cinema4D, Visual Effects and Photoshop posts within the DMNForums.Related Keywords:Quick Tip, Tutorial, Cinema 4d, Christmas ornament, 3D model, R10